Fire Safety Concerns During Cold Weather

With the winter of 2015 wearing on with increasingly frigid temperatures, State Fire Marshal Richard Miller is urging fire safety for all Michiganders, especially the elderly who are most at risk when it comes to fire.

Miller says that non-working or missing smoke alarms are the common reasons for many of Michigan’s home fires and related fatalities, and notes that having working smoke alarms may reduce the risk of dying in a fire by as much as 60 percent.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, adults over age 65 are more than twice as likely to die in fires. Seniors over age 85 are more than four times as likely to die in a fire.

Older adults are at higher risk because their ability to respond to or escape a fire is often slower due to physical limitations.

Adults over age 60 comprise 20 percent of Michigan’s population. Almost 33 percent of all Michigan households have someone age 60 or older living in them.